Receivers for hollow articles of convergent form



March 28, 1967 J. D. WARD 3,311,294

RECEIVERS FOR HOLLOW ARTICLES OF CONVERGENT FORM Filed April 13, 1966 United States Patent i 3,311,294 RECEIVERS FUR HOLLGW ARTICLES 13F CONVERGENT FORM Joseph Dennis Ward, 92 Compton Road W., Wolverhampton, Stafford, England Filed Apr. 13, 1966, Ser. No. 542,348 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 14, 1965, 15,977/ 65 9 Claims. (Cl. 232-43.1)

This invention relates to receivers for hollow articles of convergent form such as disposable cups.

There is an increasing use of automatic vending machines which produce hot and cold drinks and which carry a stock of disposable cups which are usually made of paper or plastic material. The cups are usually loaded into such a machine in the form of a stack with the cups in nested relation so that the machine may hold, say, a thousand cups in a comparatively small volume.

When the cups have been used they are normally thrown away in a bin or basket and this very soon becomes filled with a comparatively small number of cups since the cups are not carefully placed in a nested relation but are merely thrown in randomly.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a receiver in which cups, or similar disposable articles of convergent form, are stacked in nested relation.

According to the invention I provide a receiver for hollow articles of convergent form, such as disposable cups, comprising a container having vertical side wall means defining an upright passage to receive said articles, article support means adjacent the bottom of said passage, an opening for said articles in said side wall means and leading into said passage adjacent the top thereof, said opening being defined by opposite, convergent side edges having a convergence complementary to that of said articles to guide the latter so that their axes of convergence are vertical as the articles pass through said opening, and guide means to restrict tipping of the articles as they fall through the passage so that the articles accumulate in a stack in nested relation on said support means.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a receiver for displaceable paper or plastic cups;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-section on the line 11-11 in FIGURE 1 taken in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar 0t FIGURE 2 but taken through a receiver of alternative construction; and

FIGURE 4 is a detail perspective view of alternative means for closing the lower end of the receiver.

Referring to FIGURES l and 2 of the drawings, a receiver 11 for disposable paper or plastic cups 11, comprises a box-like container 12 having vertical side wall means constituted by a front wall 13 and a rear wall 14 connected by side walls 15 and 16. The container 12 is square in cross-section as shown most clearly in FIGURE 2 and the walls 13-16 define an upright passage 17 to receive the cups 11.

Upper wall means in the form of a panel 18 closes the top of the passage 17 and article support means in the form of a Ushaped wire 19 is located adjacent the bottom of the passage. The wire 19 has parallel limbs 20 and these are horizontal and are received in apertures 21 in the walls 15 and 16 adjacent the lower ends thereof. The parallel limbs 20 thus extend across the open bottom end of the passage 17 and serve to support a stack of cups 11, as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 1.

The wire 19 may be removed from the receiver by pulling on an end portion 22 of the wire to withdraw the limbs 20 from the apertures 21 in the walls 15 and 16.

3,311,294 Patented Mar. 28, 196? An opening 23 to receive the cups 11 is formed in the front wall 13, said opening leading into the passage 17 adjacent the top thereof. The opening 23 is defined by opposite, downwardly convergent, side edges 24 which have a convergence complementary to that of the cups 11, that is to say, since the axis of convergence A of the side edges 24 is vertical, the side edges guide the cups as they are inserted through the opening 23 so that they will only pass through if their axes of convergence are substantially vertical, with the open end of the cups uppermost. The upper end lower edges 25 and 26 of the opening 23 are horizontal and are spaced apart by a distance which permits only a single cup 11 to pass through the opening at a time.

The cross-sectional size of the container 12 is such that the distances between the inner surfaces of the opposed walls 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 respectively are only slightly greater than the maximum diameter of the cups 11, as shown most clearly in FIGURE 2, so that only a small clearance 28 is allowed between the inner surface of each wall and the rim 27 of each cup. Thus, the inner surfaces of the walls 13-16 serve as guide means to restrict tipping of the cups as they fall towards the bottom of the passage 17.

A vertical slot 29 is formed in the front wall 13 of the container 12 at a location below the opening 23 whereby the height of the stack of cups in the passage 17 may be ascertained.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the container 12 is provided with brackets 30 which are attached to the upper end of the rear wall 14 so that the container may be hung from a wall or similar support structure.

In use, the container 12 will be located at a site where the cups and their contents are dispensed so that when the .cups are empty they may be inserted one at a time into the container. The first cup passed through the opening 23 will fall down the passage 17 to the bottom thereof and come to rest on the limbs 2d of the wire 19. A second cup will then fall into the first cup and each subsequent cup will fall into a preceding cup. Due to the shape of the opening 23 and the cross-sectional size of the container 12 the tipping of the cups will be restricted as they fall down the passage 17 so that they will form a stack at the bottom of the container in nested relation. The height of the stack of nested cups may be ascertained through the slot 29 and when the container is substantially full, the bottom can be opened by removal of the wire 19 so that the cups can be removed for disposal.

If desired, guide means for the cups may be constituted by baflies supported from the walls of the container. Such an arrangement is shown in FIGURE 3 wherein a container 31 of square cross-section has curved badles 38 secured to the inner surfaces of walls 3235 and project therefrom to define a passage 39 having a diameter only slightly greater than the diameter of the rim 36 of the cup 37 and thus restrict tipping of cups as they fall down the passage 39.

The opening in the container through which the cups are inserted will normally have side edges which converge in a downward direction as shown in FIGURE 1. If desired, however, the side edges of the opening 23 may converge in an upward direction, as indicated by broken lines 41} in FIGURE 1, so that the cups have to be inserted upside down and will nest in upside down relation at the bottom of the container.

A further arrangement is shown in FIGURE 4 wherein the lower end of a container 41 is closed by a displaceable panel 42 hinged to the lower end of its rear wall 43 by a hinge 44 and secured in a closed position by a toggle 45 pivoted to the lower end of the front wall 46 of the container.

Other suitable fastening devices may be employed to secure the panel in a closed position. Thus, for example, the panel may be provided with a vertically extending leaf spring on its free front edge, said leaf spring being suitably shaped to engage a rib or groove formed on the lower end of the front wall of the container. Alternatively, a ring may be pivotally secured to the front edge of the panel and a peg may project from the lower end of the front wall of the container and be received in the ring when the panel is in its closed position.

The container according to the invention may be made of any suitable material such as wood, sheet metal or synthetic resinous material and although a container of square cross-section has been described, it will be understood that the container may have any convenient hollow cross-section, such as circular or oval. The container may be designed to receive hollow convergent articles having a cross-section other than circular. Such articles may, for example, have a square or triangular crosssection and the passage for the articles in the container will be of complementary cross-section and may either be defined by the vertical side walls of the container or by bafiies supported from the side walls as previously described.

What I claim then is:

1. A receiver for hollow articles of convergent form, such as disposable cups, comprising a container having vertical side wall means defining an upright passage to receive said articles, article support means adjacent the bottom of said passage, an opening for said articles in said side wall means and leading into said passage adjacent said top thereof, said opening being defined by opposite, convergent side edges having a convergence complementary to that of said articles to guide the latter so that their axes of convergence are vertical as the articles pass through said opening, and guide means of said passage to restrict tipping of the articles as they fall towards the bottom of said passage to cause the articles toaccumulate in a stack, in nested relation on said support means.

2. A receiver as claimed in claim 1 having means on the side wall means for releasably holding the article support means to receive said stack, the article support means being displaceable to allow removal of the stack from the passage.

3. A receiver as claimed in claim 2, wherein the article support means is a U-shaped wire received in apertures in said side wall means, said wire having its limbs arranged in a horizontal plane to support said articles.

4. A receiver as claimed in claim 2 wherein the article support means is a displaceable panel hinged to the lower end of said side wall means.

5. A receiver as claimed in claim 1 including a vertical slot in the side wall means whereby the height of said stack may be ascertained.

6. A receiver as claimed in claim 1 wherein the side edges of said opening converge in a downward direction.

7. A receiver as claimed in claim 1 wherein the side edges of said opening converge in an upward direction.

8. A receiver as claimed in claim 1 wherein said guide means is constituted by the inner surface of said side wall means.

9. A receiver as claimed in claim 1 wherein said guide means are constituted by bafiles supported from the side wall means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,008,963 11/1911 Ekermeyer 31243 1,013,775 1/1912 Hotfman 232-1 1,392,559 10/1921 DeLong 23243.5 2,319,975 5/ 1943 Buttery 31243 2,602,584 7/1952 Croft 23243.1 3,002,651 10/1961 Gauld 312-45 3,090,521 5/1963 Fazekas 221197 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

F. K. ZUGEL, Examiner. 

1. A RECEIVER FOR HOLLOW ARTICLES OF CONVERGENT FORM, SUCH AS DISPOSABLE CUPS, COMPRISING A CONTAINER HAVING VERTICAL SIDE WALL MEANS DEFINING AN UPRIGHT PASSAGE TO RECEIVE SAID ARTICLES, ARTICLE SUPPORT MEANS ADJACENT THE BOTTOM OF SAID PASSAGE, AN OPENING FOR SAID ARTICLES IN SAID SIDE WALL MEANS AND LEADING INTO SAID PASSAGE ADJACENT SAID TOP THEREOF, SAID OPENING BEING DEFINED BY OPPOSITE, CONVERGENT SIDE EDGES HAVING A CONVERGENCE COMPLEMENTARY TO THAT OF SAID ARTICLES TO GUIDE THE LATTER SO THAT THEIR AXES OF CONVERGENCE ARE VERTICAL AS THE ARTICLES PASS THROUGH SAID OPENING, AND GUIDE MEANS OF SAID PASSAGES TO RESTRICT TIPPING OF THE ARTICLES AS THEY FALL TOWARDS THE BOTTOM OF SAID PASSAGE TO CAUSE THE ARTICLES TO ACCUMULATE IN A STACK IN NESTED RELATION ON SAID SUPPORT MEANS. 